


Conspiring Against Them

by orphan_account



Series: Yeah I Wrote Something: Tumblr Fics [22]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Christmas, College Students Castiel/Dean Winchester, Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-07
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2018-05-05 11:43:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5374067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam let out a loud laugh and cried, “Look who’s caught under the mistletoe!”</p><p>Both Cas and Dean slowly turned their eyes upward. Sure enough, a sprig of mistletoe hung over their heads. Cas let out a half-delirious chuckle. Of course, the universe would conspire against them like this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Conspiring Against Them

Dean was sitting in the living room watching yet another Christmas special when he heard him. His deep, gravelly voice resounded throughout the house, sending chills up and down Dean’s spine. 

It had been three months and seventeen days since he had last heard him, and it felt like a shot straight to his heart. He stiffened, his hands curling more tightly around the beer in his hands. 

He should probably go say hi, right? He didn’t want to make it too awkward, didn’t want to make the rest of his family suspicious. As far as they were concerned, Cas was just a friend, the nerdy kid who’d grown up next door. They didn’t know that he was also Dean’s ex-boyfriend as of three months and seventeen days ago. 

He slowly stood, setting the beer aside before stretching out his limbs. He drew in a deep breath, pausing for a moment to steel himself before leaving the safety of the den.

He walked out into the foyer, smile wide and inviting. That is, until he actually saw him. When he finally laid eyes on Cas, after months of being deprived of the simple pleasure of looking at his favorite person in the whole world, he was forced to draw up short. 

Cas looked…different. And not necessarily in a good way. Yes, he would always look good to Dean, no matter what, but Dean could tell that their months apart hadn’t been kind to the other man. There were dark circles under his eyes and his cheeks looked thinner somehow. His eyes, though…they were still the brilliant blue that Dean had let himself get lost in every day. 

He forced the smile back onto his face as he approached where Mary stood talking to Cas. 

“So your fall semester went well?” She was asking, her eyes warm and soft. 

Cas nodded, “Yeah. Finally got that biochem class out of the way. It was a fucking killer.” 

Dean huffed a laugh, finally announcing his presence to the others. “You kiss your mother with that mouth?” He asked, and Mary turned around to roll her eyes at him while Cas just blanched, his eyes widening for the briefest of seconds. 

“Dean, you really have no room to talk,” she chided with a gentle smile. She looked to Cas conspiratorially. “You should’ve heard some of the things he said the other night when we played Monopoly. They’d make a trucker blush.” 

Cas chuckled, albeit uncomfortably, and shook his head. “He does have quite the colorful vocabulary.” 

“But I mean, other than that, how was it? Dean told us that you won some sort of award for your major?” She asked. Cas’s eyes widened in surprise as they shifted back do Dean for the briefest of seconds, and Dean couldn’t seem to help the blush that rose up on his cheeks. 

“Um, yes, I did,” Cas admitted. He ran a hand over the back of his neck as he looked down at his boots. “I didn’t even realize you knew about that.” 

Dean rolled his eyes. “Of course I knew about that. I always…” He trailed off, unsure of how to admit about how he kept tabs on Cas without sounding like some kind of crazed stalker ex-boyfriend.

Mary didn’t even notice the sudden tension between the boys. She laid a hand on Cas’s arm. “Let me go find that recipe for your mom.” She turned away and headed toward the kitchen, leaving the two men alone. 

Cas shoved his hands into his pockets and looked down at the floor. “I’m surprised you’re here,” he murmured. “I thought you’d be…out.” 

Dean stiffened at the words, but he didn’t contradict them. He knew he deserved them. 

“Yeah, uh…I haven’t quite been in the going out mood lately,” he admitted. Cas’s eyes finally shot up to his, surprise there and even, for the briefest of seconds, hope before he forced them away again. 

“I’m sorry to hear about that,” he murmured. “I know how much you like going to…that kind of stuff.” 

“And you don’t,” Dean muttered. Cas nodded sadly. It had been what drove them apart; that big difference between them. 

It was college, everyone needed a way to work out the stress. Dean’s method had involved going out to parties and getting shit faced, forgetting his care. Cas’s method had required peace and quiet, a good book, and a big cup of tea. 

At first, it had been fine. Cas had been uncomfortable about Dean going to all those parties with the cheerleaders and the alcohol and the drugs. But Dean had assured him that everything was fine. As quarterback of the school’s team, he needed to make regular appearances at those parties if he was going to maintain his rep. So they’d kept on for as long as they could, with Dean going out to parties nearly every weekend, and Cas staying home in his solitude. 

But in the end, it had proved too difficult. Dean liked partying too much, Cas had yelled. Cas needed to loosen up and live a little, Dean had yelled back. Accusations had flown about what actually happened at those parties, about what Cas did while Dean was away. And then before either of them really comprehended what they were doing, they’d broken up and stormed away from each other.

But for some reason, Dean hadn’t been able to move on. Usually it didn’t take more than a few days and a couple decent hookups. But since they’d broken it off, Dean hadn’t even been able to look at someone else that way without feeling sick to his stomach. 

Now, in his parents’ foyer, Dean was thinking of all those pointless parties as he chucked mirthlessly and shook his head. “I like a lot of things, Sweetheart, and I’ve found that I can live without most things I like.” 

Cas nodded, his expression sad. “So it appears.” He looked away, his cheeks heating as he muttered, “I’ve been demoted to things you liked, huh? Things that the great Dean Winchester can live without.” 

Dean’s mouth fell open. Is that what Cas had taken away from that conversation? He started to deny it, to explain what he’d actually meant, but then Mary was calling Cas back to the kitchen. 

Cas immediately began walking back, glad for the escape, but then Dean was following right behind him. 

“Cas,” he mumbled, reaching out for him. “Cas, please!” 

“Don’t worry about it, Dean,” Cas assured him. “We gave it a good go, but it just wasn’t good enough.”

“Would you just listen to me!” Dean pleaded, pulling Cas to a stop right before he walked into the kitchen. 

“Dean, I’m sure you feel bad about what happened. But it was for the best. Neither of us can change who we are…” 

Right then Sam glanced up from where he was working on his government homework at the kitchen table. He let out a loud laugh and cried, “Look who’s caught under the mistletoe!” 

Both Cas and Dean slowly turned their eyes upward. Sure enough, a sprig of mistletoe hung over their heads. Cas let out a half-delirious chuckle. Of course the universe would conspire against them like this.

From her spot by the counter, Mary grinned wide as the Cheshire Cat. “Rules are rules, boys!” 

It wasn’t their fault, Dean reminded himself. They didn’t know about what had happened between him and Cas while they’d been away at school. They couldn’t know how painful this would be for both men. Dean almost walked away, but then he felt Cas curling his fingers in the front of Dean’s flannel button-up. 

The simple action tore Dean’s gaze downward so that his eyes were locked onto Cas’s. His mind flashed back other times when it had been just like this between them, when Cas had gently reached up on tiptoes to press their mouths together, his hips resting beneath Dean’s, his fingers tugging Dean’s head downward to deepen the kiss, his tongue pushing into Dean’s mouth to claim and explore. 

There was none of that now, however. Instead, Cas didn’t even allow himself to touch Dean, save for the hand curled in his shirtfront. Dean could sense the restraint Cas was placing on himself, the control he held over his body as he reached up to brush his lips against the corner of Dean’s mouth in a barely-there kiss. But even barely there, it was still more than Dean had felt in months. His hands clenched at his sides as he fought to keep them to himself. 

And then Cas was pulling back and stepping into the kitchen to take the recipe from Mary. “Thanks, I’ll bring it back when mom’s done,” he promised. 

“Of course,” Mary murmured, her eyes soft. As soon as Cas turned away to head out the back door, she looked to Dean, her expression firm, her eyes sending the quiet message. <i>Fix it.</i>

Dean nodded imperceptibly and headed for the back door. He yanked on a pair of boots that someone had left there and grabbed the old coat that John kept hanging there, sliding it on as he ran out into the still, snowy night. Cas was already halfway across the yard, so Dean had to run to catch up with him. 

“Cas!” He called. The other man seemed to freeze for a moment before slowly turning back around to find Dean hurrying toward him, snow crunching under his feet with every step. 

“What do you want, Dean?” Cas mumbled dejectedly, and it was only as Dean drew closer that he saw the tear tracks down Cas’s cheeks. 

Dean walked right up to him and took his face in his hands. “You weren’t just something I liked. You were someone I loved… Someone I love still.” 

“Dean…” Cas murmured uncertainly. 

“What I meant earlier when I said giving up things I like was the partying, Cas. I’ve given up the partying.” 

“Really?” Cas whispered hopefully, and Dean nodded. 

“Sweetheart, I need you more than anything else, more than parties, more than games, more than a reputation. I need you, and I know that it’s a long shot, but I want to know if…if…” He trailed off then, his throat suddenly dry, his eyes hopeful.

“Yes!” Cas breathed as he reached up on tiptoes to claim Dean’s mouth, this time kissing him for real, kissing him like Dean remembered. He may have whimpered a little bit as he shoved his fingers into Cas’s hair and angled his head to deepen the kiss. 

As their lips slid together and their bodies pressed closer, Cas let out a half chuckle. He’d never believed that Christmas miracles were actually a thing. 

“What?” Dean asked, but Cas shook his head. 

“Merry Christmas, Dean.” 

“Merry Christmas, Cas.” 

From inside the kitchen, Mary and Sam watched the couple with wide grins on their faces. 

“Good call, mom!” Sam enthused. “I knew Dean was acting weird for a reason!” 

“Well, that little touch of yours with the mistletoe was genius,” Mary praised. They high-fived between them. Sometimes, the universe needed a little help when conspiring against people.


End file.
